Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a height-adjusting device for an adjusting foot of a household appliance, including a vertical threaded shaft having a foot plate and being guided in an adjuster housing solidly connected to an appliance housing, and a nut rotatably supported in the adjuster housing, screwed to the threaded shaft, having an outer periphery constructed as a worm wheel, being driven by a worm connected to an adjusting rod and being rotatably supported in the adjuster housing.
It has been known for a long time to provide household appliances with adjusting feet, at least one of which is adjustable in height in order to adapt the household appliance that is to be installed to local conditions (see German Published, Non-Prosecuted Patent Application DE-OS 35 01 364, for example).
When household appliances are installed in a closed facade of furniture, such as in a corresponding niche or opening in built-in kitchen cabinets, difficulties arise for the user in gaining access to the adjusting feet disposed in the region of the rear edge of the housing when the installed height of the household appliance is set through the use of the adjustable adjusting feet which, for instance, are set to a precise horizontal and vertical position with the household appliance already inserted into its niche or opening. Thus if the household appliance proves to have been installed in an incorrect position, it may even have to be pushed in and out several times.
In order to make it easier for the user to adjust the height of the adjusting feet disposed in the region of the rear housing edge, it is also known, for instance from German Published, Non-Prosecuted Patent Application DE-OS 43 43 709, to provide one of the adjusting feet in the back with an adjusting device that can be operated from one wall of the housing, preferably the front of the household appliance. A disadvantage of that configuration is that the adjusting foot co-rotates as it is adjusted, and it has been found in practice that especially if it is on a relatively soft floor covering, it can cause damage to the floor covering, and/or extremely high force must be exerted to adjust the adjusting feet.
In order to overcome the aforementioned disadvantage, German Utility Model DE-GM 91 12 657 discloses a height-adjusting device for adjusting feet of the type referred to at the outlet, in which the adjusting foot does not co-rotate upon being adjusted, because of a mandrel in the adjuster housing that protrudes into an opening in the hollow threaded shaft.
That configuration is expensive because of the engineering and production-related expenditure, and since the housing has to fit over the threaded shaft of the adjusting foot, the adjustment range of the adjusting foot is limited.